UNIT 1 The Possibly Impossible

Research Project

ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY

The Possibly Impossible Research Project (180 points) - For this assignment, students will choose from a list of authors of early children’s picture books supplied by the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature at the University of Florida. These authors are largely unknown and the library has very little information about their lives, publishing history, education, or other work. Each student will engage in original research to locate and record as much biographical information about his or her chosen author as possible, using both digital, physical, and archival methods of research. The ultimate goal will be to create a public facing digital biography of this author to be added to Wikipedia.

HOWEVER, it is entirely possible that a student will be unable to find much information at all on the chosen author, making the creation of a complete, detailed, multimodal Wikipedia biography IMPOSSIBLE! Therefore, the final artifact for this unit will be a portfolio of work; for some students, this artifact may take the more traditional form of a written biography, a bibliography, and supporting documents, while for other students, it make take the form of various process documents, detailing the research work completed, in order to help future researchers build from the work already completed.

Students should approach this project as a journey into the unknown. They should be prepared to make mistakes, get messy, and potentially come up empty handed. A large part of the project will include figuring out how to make failure and frustration productive, how to document a research process so that future researchers might benefit, and how to enjoy the research rabbit holes.

FINAL ARTIFACT: RESEARCH PORTFOLIO (100 pts)

To successfully complete this research portfolio, students must choose at least 3 of the following elements:

• Public Facing Multimodal Biographical Article on Author via Wikipedia - minimum 250 words, following the tone, format, and style of Wikipedia. Multimodal elements like images, links, sources required. Turn in screenshot.

• Public Facing Biographical Information for Baldwin Website- minimum 300 words, following format and style set by the Baldwin Library (largely academic). Turn in text or screenshot.

• Bibliography of Sources in MLA format - minimum of 5 sources, cited in MLA 8• Archived Twitter Research Journal- minimum of 25 student generated tweets on the research process; may

include responses, replies, retweets, and commentary/narrative. Must be archived and turned in as PDF. • Research Narrative- 600-800 word first person narrative of student’s research process; may include multimodal

elements such as screenshots, embedded Tweets, photos, handwritten materials. • Archived Correspondence with Librarians, Scholars, Archivists etc.- minimum of 4 part correspondence (sent

from student, reply from librarian, response from student, reply from librarian), or 4 queries on the part of the student; correspondence may provide vital information or be evidence of a dead end.

• Archived Image Files - minimum of 5 relevant images, such as family portraits, illustrations by the author, estate images, photos of materials discovered; images archived and turned in as a PDF

Students should archive materials as appropriate, combine into one PDF with an appropriate cover page, and turn in to Canvas no later than 11:55pm on Monday, February 12

Unit 1 Assignment � of �2 4

PROJECT STAGE: TWITTER RESEARCH JOURNAL (50 pts)

Each student will use Twitter to chronicle the research process, share resources, seek out assistance from other academics on Twitter and add productive discussion to the course research project as a whole.

At the start of Unit 1, each student will use their Twitter feed to begin documenting and chronicling their research into their chosen author. In addition to the standard #1102kidsci hashtag, each research journal tweet should include #RJ.

Over the course of their research, from January 22-February 12, students will be expected to send at least 30 tweets documenting their research process. Tweets can be multimodal and informal. Tweets for this assignment may include (but are not limited to):

Questions the student hopes to answer or would like help in answeringSources the student has found to be useful, either for primary or secondary researchObservations from research or from work with experts like librariansRelevant discoveries from sources, other students, experts, online sources, archives, correspondence etc.Search terms, paths of inquiry, key terms, databases explored, Dead ends, disappointing results, lack of responses, setbacks, failures, frustrationsPlans, drafts, versions of portfolio pieces, such as text for Wikipedia article or links to images

Students will also be required to REPLY to at least 10 tweets from peers who are also engaged in original research.

Therefore, by the end of Unit 1, students should have, at minimum, 40 tweets total dedicated to their research process with the hashtag #RJ. Students should aim to use Twitter as a research journal to both record and reflect on their research process as well as to provide feedback and learn from others’ progress.

As always with Twitter assignments, keep in mind the potential for a wider audience; students should strive to make Tweets understandable to those outside our course. Making use of additional (existing) hashtags or participating in online forums or discussions may provide you with additional feedback or advice from other scholars. Students should also consider also how to make use of Twitter genre conventions (like threads, group tweets, or tagging) to help communicate ideas to that wider public audience.

PROJECT STAGE: BLOG POST 1 & RESPONSES (30 pts)

Wednesday, January 31 by 11:55pm: Students will write a 300-500 word blog post on the course blog detailing their progress with the Possibly Impossible Research Process. Each blog post must contain the following:1. The name of the author being researched2. A summary of the work done to date3. A brief reflection on the research process (what has worked, what hasn’t, what is next to try)

then EITHER4. A proposed plan for the final portfolioOR4. 1-2 questions or concerns the student needs help addressing in order to complete the project*

Friday, February 2 by 11:55pm: Each student will then respond to at least 2 peer blog posts, using the reply function on the course blog, with constructive feedback. Each brief response (100-200 words) should offer feedback, advice, information, tips, or ideas about how the original poster can work through their concerns, improve their research methodology, access materials, or move to new avenues of investigation. Students should consider these two responses an open-ended peer review and should strive to help fellow students improve their work through constructive criticism and concrete feedback.

*Questions should be content based (“How do I best track down publication data on a book? Where can I find census records for the UK?”) rather than procedural (“How many tweets do we need? When is the project due?”)

Unit 1 Assignment � of �4 4

RUBRIC

UNIT 3 STEM Themed Picture Books

and Recorded Readings

ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY

STEM Picture Books (250 points total) - For this assignment, students may choose to work individually or in pairs in order to produce a non-fiction STEM-focused picture book aimed at a K-2 audience. The picture book will conform to genre standards, will be printed and bound, and will address one of the following prompts:

1. A description or explanation of the author’s course of study (computer science, aerospace engineering) or an element of that course of study (coding, determining orbit trajectories).

2. A biography of an author researched and profiled in Unit 1 or Unit 23. A narrative about a STEM related event (the discovery of gravitational waves, the Mars Curiosity Rover landing).

This project will have multiple scaffolding steps, but the final artifact for the project will be a physical picture book and a video recording of each student reading that book aloud.

FINAL ARTIFACT: PICTURE BOOK AND RECORDED READING (125 pts)

Each student will produce and turn in a physical picture book; additionally, each student will record themselves reading that book aloud and turn in the video.

Final Picture Book Specifications: Each picture book must follow the 32-page picture book format provided on Canvas, which should will include a title, dedication/copyright page, and a cover. Each picture book must be produced in hard copy and the pages bound together. Each book must follow picture book conventions and combine words and pictures to tell a story.Students may use pictures made from typography, stick figure drawings, paper cutouts, Microsoft paint, collage, crayons, colored pencils, finger painting, watercolors, graffiti, InDesign, Photoshop, AutoCAD, pop up elements, paste paper, or any other creative medium to design the book’s illustrations. Creativity is encouraged. Each book should be appeal to an audience of children from ages 5-8 (K-2) from a broad cross-section of socioeconomic, cultural, racial, geographical, and educational backgrounds. Think about your primary audience from Hollis Innovation Academy but also the secondary audiences of parents, teachers, and Dr. Fitz.

Each picture book will be turned in as a hard copy artifact by Monday, April 16 at the start of class. Students who plan to use the picture book in their final portfolio should plan to scan or photograph the book before turning it in.

Digital Recording Specifications: To turn in the video, students should plan to upload it to YouTube, then turn the link in to Canvas. Each student must turn in a digital recording of themselves reading the picture book by Monday, April 16 by 11:55pm. The recording may take a couple of different forms:

1. The student reading the book to an audience (storytime)2. The student reading the book directly to the camera (vlog)3. The student reading the book in voice over while the camera focuses on the pictures (Reading Rainbow)

The length of the video will vary depending on the amount of text in the book, but each student should be sure that the audience can experience both the visual and written/oral parts of the text through the recording. Also, keep the audience (and their attention span) in mind while structuring, recording, and editing your video.

Unit 2 Assignment � of �2 7

PROJECT STAGE: BLOG POST 2: BOOK PROPOSAL (20 pts)

At the start of Unit 3, each student will write and post their second blog entry on the course blog (http://blogs.iac.gatech.edu/kidsci/). In this 200-300 word blog post, each student will propose the topic for their Unit 3 picture book. Each blog post should include:

The general topic or theme of the picture bookAn outline of the general plot/structure of the bookA brainstorm, outline, or discussion of the type of illustrations the student might use. This might be as general as “I plan to use digital software to create the images” or as specific as “I plan to cut and paste tissue paper onto card stock to create patterns, then scan and digitally manipulate those images in Photoshop in order to create images in the style of Eric Carle.” Students may change their approach after our workshops as they see fit.A list of questions the student has or potential challenges the student faces in completing this project

Students who elect to work in pairs must each complete an individual blog post. These blog posts should include the elements listed above (which may be the same as the partner’s) but should include the following additional information:

The partner the student has chosen to work with.The elements the individual student will be responsible for creatingThe team work skills the student anticipates needing in order to successfully complete the projectThe motivation for working choosing a particular partner and the skills/strengths that person brings to the team.

It is suggested that students who elect to work in pairs on this project create a team contract similar to the one from Unit 2, but that contract is not a required element to be handed in

All blog posts are due to the course blog by Friday, March 16 at 11:55pm. Students are STRONGLY encouraged to turn the blog post in before leaving campus for Spring Break to avoid technical difficulties or delays.

On Monday, March 26 by 11:55pm, each student should respond to 2 blog posts; responses should include constructive feedback, suggestions, responses to the student questions. Each response should be 100-200 words.

PROJECT STAGE: PICTURE BOOK DUMMY (25 pts)

In order to refine the spatial and textual elements of the picture book, students will be required to make an informal mock up or picture book “dummy.” This dummy will follow the format discussed in class (see links on Canvas) but will be a physical artifact that mimics the actual size, layout, and content of the final picture book.

The Picture Book Dummy is due at the start of class on Friday. March 30 and will be used for a peer-review exercise in class that day. Students should also plan to bring their picture book dummy to the workshops April 2-6.

The Dummy must:Contain 32 pages that mimic the proposed layout of the student’s book (landscape, portrait, specialty shape, etc.)Be a physical artifact, (however, it does not need to be high quality, so printer paper, tape, pencil stick figures, inspiration images as stand-ins for illustrations, stapled bindings are all acceptable..) Contain both words and pictures (rough versions, approximations, inspiration photos are all acceptable)Must be bound in such a way that students can turn the pages like a real book

The picture book dummy could also be a highly useful process document for the final portfolio, so students are encouraged to create/maintain a digital copy (scan/photos) and to document changes made to the dummy over the course of Unit 3.

Unit 2 Assignment � of �3 7

PROJECT STAGE: INSPIRATION IMAGES FILE (20 pts)

Monday, April 2: Students will collect 10-15 high resolution digital images to use in the Digital Image Creation workshop with Alison Valk. Students should store these images on a USB drive or in a networked digital folder like Dropbox so they can be easily accessed on the computers in the Homer Rice Classroom. To be considered high resolution images, and usable for this project, each image should be 200dpi or higher.

Wednesday, April 4: Students will print 5-10 of their digital images to bring to the Paper Museum workshop. These printed versions should be approximately half a standard sheet of printer paper (2 photos per 8.5 X 11) and should be in color. The photos may be the originals collected or may be digitally manipulated after Alison’s workshop.

These images might include:Photographs (Hubble Telescope images of Mars, enlarged images of plant life, photos of the Golden Gate Bridge)Diagrams or drawings from textbooks that are relevant to the book’s topicIllustrations from famous children’s books in a style the student hopes to mimicPatterns, textures, or other abstract visual the student hopes to incorporate/manipulate to create other imagesStudent produced images (drawings, paintings)Portraits or images of the individual being portrayed in the biography.

This assignment will be graded complete/incomplete on the workshop days listed; being prepared each day is worth 10 points.

PROJECT STAGE: BLOG POST 3: PICTURE BOOK PROCESS (20 pts)

For the third blog post of the semester, each student will create a 1-2 minute video blog describing the picture book making process for a K-2 audience.This video may focus on any step(s) of the book making process but should be multimodal, engaging, and easy to understand.

The primary audience for this video will be the K-2 students at Hollis Elementary School; the students will view these videos in preparation for their visit to our class at the Paper Museum on April 13. While at the Paper Museum, the Hollis students will get a tour of the museum, engage in a hands-on paper making workshop, and will work with our class to read/review the polished drafts of the STEM picture books. The purpose of this video is to get the Hollis students excited about the visit and to give them a glimpse of what they will be learning about at the Paper Museum. A secondary purpose for the video is to document your progress to date and to give an update on where you stand in the book making process.

The week of April 2-6, our class will be engaged in 3 different hands on workshops. Students are encouraged to take photos and videos of the workshops, as well as the work they are completing outside of class on their picture books. The instructor will create a shared Google Drive folder where students can add photos and videos to crowd-source materials for this blog post.

By posting material in the Google Drive folder, you are giving other students permission to use your images in their video blogs: if you would like to be credited by name, include your full name in the file name. (JohnSmith_PaperMakingImage2.jpeg).

Blog Post 3 is due to the course blog by Monday, April 9 by 11:55pm. Students should plan to upload their videos to YouTube, then embed their videos into the Wordpress blog. If you need to give credit to any of the crowd-sourced images or videos, you should do so in the YouTube description and on the course blog.

Unit 2 Assignment � of �4 7

UNIT 3 PICTURE BOOK WORKSHOPS

Wednesday, March 14: Atlanta artist Mike Lowrey will come to our regular classes to talk about the process of creating, revising, and illustrating picture books.

Come prepared with questions about creating picture books!

Monday, April 2 in the Homer Rice Classroom of the GTLibrary: Alison Valk will lead a Digital Image Making workshop, that will demonstrate techniques in Photoshop and InDesign to manipulate scanned images, create textures, and edit existing images.

Come prepared with your digital “inspiration images” folder on a USB or shared folder (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)

Wednesday, April 4 at the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking: Virginia Howell and Jerushia Graham will lead a workshop on how to create paste paper.

Come prepared with your printed “inspiration images” and clothes you wouldn’t mind getting dirty.

Friday, April 6 at the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking: Virginia Howell and Jerushia Graham will lead a workshop on on book binding, book format, and creating pop up elements in picture books.

Come prepared with your printed “inspiration images” and clothes you wouldn’t mind getting dirty.

Wednesday, April 11: In class work day - come prepared with your picture book materials.

Friday, April 13 at the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking: Students from Hollis Innovation Academy will read and review your picture books as a part of their field trip to the museum.

Come prepared with the polished draft of your picture book and clothes you don’t mind being photographed in.

Monday, April 16: In class work day - come prepared with your video materials/laptop.

PROJECT STAGE: POLISHED DRAFT FOR K-2 “PEER REVIEW” (40 pts)

In partnership with Serve-Learn-Sustain office at Georgia Tech, our class will be working with Hollis Innovation Academy students in grades K-2.

On Friday, April 13, from 9:30-12:00pm,** three classes of Hollis students will take a field trip to the Paper Museum. There, they will tour the museum, participate in a hands-on paper making workshop, and give feedback to 1102 students on their picture books. Hollis students will read the picture books with 1102 students and give their (oral and non-verbal) feedback on the story, illustrations, and oral presentation of the book.

To prepare for this event, students should have a complete, polished draft of their physical books ready to share with the Hollis students. A polished draft must include:

A coverAll 32 pages worth of text and imagesA binding that allows for pages to be turned and the book to be shared (a temporary option like binder clips are acceptable so long as it does not hinder the ability to turn the pages).

1102 students should also be prepared to read their books aloud with exceptionally good oral/non-verbal communication; rehearsals are highly recommended.

**As a result of transportation and time constraints, Hollis students are unable to be at the Paper Museum during the C3 8:00am section of our course. Students in this section will have the opportunity to come to the Paper Museum during the times listed above, or to complete an alternative peer review activity in order to earn the 40 points. A polished draft will be due April 13 at the start of class regardless of participation in this special event. Students will need to indicate which option they will choose no later than Monday, April 9 via a Google Doc signup